FOOTSCRAY/Edgewater is still looking for its first win of the Victorian Premier Cricket season after its third straight one-day loss on Saturday.
For the second successive week, the Bulldogs have had promising first innings totals overhauled by the side batting second.
Last week it was Camberwell which reeled in Footscray’s total of 205 with four wickets in hand, and on Saturday it was Richmond’s turn.
After being sent in, the Bulldogs slumped to 2/4 before Matthew Love (45) and Dean Russ (33) combined to take the score to 77.
When both departed the score stood at 4/94, before an outstanding 103-run partnership between Nathan Geisler (63) and Brenton McDonald (41) carried the total toward 200.
Despite posting a season-high total of 223 from its 50 overs, Richmond lost only four wickets on the way to reaching the target in the second-last over, thanks largely to a century from opener Aidan Blizzard.
Footscray opening bowler Steven Duckworth did all the damage, taking three of the four Richmond wickets, including the scalp of the dangerous Cameron White.
Duckworth finished with 3/55 from his 10 overs, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss for his team.
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back this week when they returns home to take on Fitzroy Doncaster – the only other side yet to win in the Garry Watts group.
